Echium vulgare L.

• an upright and long-lived herbaceous plant initially producing a basal rosette of leaves.
• its stems are hairy or bristly and mostly unbranched.
• its elongated leaves are entire and hairy, with those along the stems being alternately arranged and stalkless.
• its blue tubular flowers (12-20 mm long) are borne along one side of a short coiled stem.
• these flowers have five stamens, four of which are significantly longer than the other and extend beyond the flower tube.
• its small woody 'seeds' are surrounded by five bristly bracts.

[From: Environmental Weeds of Australia]